


love is stored in the frog

by pieii



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Bickering, First Dates, Fluff, Frogs, Holding Hands, M/M, Picnics, Soft Choi Beomgyu, Soft Kang Taehyun, Sweetheart Choi Beomgyu, Tenderness, Whipped Choi Beomgyu, Whipped Kang Taehyun, beomgyu is round, froggy taegyu froggy taegyu, he is .. so sweet ............ u will sob, kissin, shhh theyre in love, taegyu first date au !!!, they go on a picnic :], theyre besties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:40:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29227125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pieii/pseuds/pieii
Summary: Taehyun doesn't know what he expected on his first date with his best friend.Maybe they'd go to Build-A-Bear and build a bear, or maybe they'd drive down to see one of those outdoor concerts Beomgyu's always talking about.Maybe they'd build a pillow fort on Beomgyu and Yeonjun's living room floor and marathonGreat British Bake Off. But this ...But this.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun
Comments: 33
Kudos: 114





	love is stored in the frog

**Author's Note:**

> hello my lovey loves !! im back >3< !! welcome to my debut into the moa scene ;D
> 
> i started planning this like .. months ago but i started writing last week and now here we r !!
> 
> i've got my window open and im eating key lime pie ice cream as i post this !!!! the vibes are just very <3
> 
> [baby playlist](https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2EJG-r4L00I5GnM2fV9zWN6qDw2Y6sUa) in the end notes like always !! i have also put the boy on [spotify](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3q9aFnEWjtPWZtPDHBHgRq?si=Myuuz5F-Q0K9-DeSLULF1w&utm_source=copy-link) if youre interested hehe
> 
> hope u enjoy !!! love u always !!!! mwah !!!!!

Beomgyu’s hand curls around Taehyun’s as he’s led … up a hill?

That’s what it feels like, anyway. Taehyun knows they’re a bit away from the city— “out away from civilization,” as Beomgyu put it; “where we belong”—and the grass is tickling the bit of ankle under his jean cuffs. And he’s a little off balance, but he’s not sure if that’s a tell of uneven ground or of the way his world tilts towards Beomgyu.

Well. Whatever it is, it’s making his calves burn.

“Just a little more!” Beomgyu says, and Taehyun doesn’t need to take off his blindfold to know the smile sprawled across Beomgyu’s face.

“Yay,” Taehyun half-whispers, quietly enough that if Beomgyu hadn’t squeezed his hand in response Taehyun might have thought he didn’t hear anything at all.

A breeze unfolds over them, brushing Taehyun’s hair over his forehead. It tickles, and before he can reach a hand up to fix it, Beomgyu’s there.

(When one sense is taken away, the others get stronger, right? Beomgyu’s there, brushing Taehyun’s hair back behind his ear and following the line of his jaw. Taehyun feels it all the way down to his toes.

Then again, it’s the same even when Taehyun doesn’t have a face-washing headband covering his eyes. Beomgyu’s always had the warmer hands, anyway, had a touch you feel even when it’s gone.)

When the ground levels out under Taehyun’s feet, it’s apparently Beomgyu’s cue to pick up the pace.

“C’mon, slowpoke,” he says, drawing it out, tugging on Taehyun’s hand.

“What kind of a first date would this be if I broke my ankle and rolled down a hill?”

“... an exciting one?”

“Wrong.”

“I don’t think I am. Imagine how iconic a hospital date would be.”

“Oh, Choi Beomgyu, I’m swooning. Why didn’t you warn me you were this romantic?”

“I know.” Beomgyu is audibly preening. “I’d even  _ sign your cast. _ ”

Taehyun plants his next step right in front of where he thinks Beomgyu’s leg is. Judging by the  _ thump _ and the very Beomgyu-esque yelp that follows, he hit it right on the mark. Heightened sensitivity is good for some things, he supposes.

“Kang Taehyun!” Beomgyu whines. “That’s no way to treat your bestie-slash-date.”

Taehyun, ever merciful, leans down to let the bestie-slash-date in question take his hand, and tugs him back up.

“I thought a hospital date would be romantic.” Taehyun says, putting his best Innocent Face on. He’s not sure how well it works without the puppy eyes.

Apparently, it’s enough for Beomgyu, who cups Taehyun’s face a little too gently for teasing and makes a little squeaky noise with his mouth as he pinches Taehyun’s cheek.

“No thanks to you brutally assaulting me.” Beomgyu heaves a long-suffering sigh. “But … we are here!”

Taehyun can hear the smile in his voice. It’s so … sweet.

“Does that mean I get my eyes back?” Taehyun gasps, clasping his hands to his chest for dramatic effect.

“Alright, yeah, yeah, Mr. Sarcasm, I suppose you can have your eyes back.”

And Taehyun makes to push off the headband but once again he’s beaten to it.

“Let me,” Beomgyu hums, slipping his fingers under the headband.

“Oh,” Taehyun grins, “you are such a gentleman.” His voice slows down to a trickle as the headband is finally off, and he opens his eyes to … “Choi Beomgyu.”

It’s a weaker reply than he wanted, but Beomgyu … he’s wearing a headband, too. Properly, pushing his hair up. It’s a frog one, with little eyes sticking up out of it, and his hair is fluffy and curly and he’s blushing.

_ Blushing _ . Red cheeks, green headband. He looks like a strawberry.

“You look like a strawberry,” Taehyun says. His voice is too soft to carry any sort of bite.

Beomgyu’s is, too, though. “You’re the one with red hair.” He reaches up to play with a strand of Taehyun’s hair, as if he’s proving his point.

He’s wearing a green sweater vest, his white button-down unbuttoned down to meet the v of the neck. He had his tangerine hoodie on when they were driving.

“When did you change?”

Beomgyu winks. It takes up his whole face. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”

And then he holds up Taehyun’s ex-blindfold. It’s a frog, too.

Taehyun blinks. “We’re going matchies?”

Beomgyu beams. “We’re going matchies!” And he reaches up to place the headband atop Taehyun’s hair. “A crown for my prince.”

Is this the point where Taehyun’s knees give out? It sure feels like it.

Taehyun pushes the headband down onto his face, so it’s pushing his hair back in the same way Beomgyu’s is—they take matchies seriously, thank you very much—and spends too long adjusting it with his hands in front of his cheeks. There’s warmth there, warmth everywhere. The breeze sings by. Beomgyu smiles.

“Perfect!” He messes with Taehyun’s hair again, hands warm warm warm. “I’ve never seen a better strawberry in my life.”

He must sense that Taehyun is about to argue, so he offers his hand again for Taehyun to take. Which Taehyun does. And when he starts off further up the hill, Taehyun follows.

“I thought you said we were there,” Taehyun says, just to be difficult.

Beomgyu huffs. “We  _ were _ there, silly. Checkpoint One!”

“Of how many?”

“You’ll find out.” Beomgyu follows it up with another wink. Or … he tries to. He’s facing the sun, right where he belongs. His face is scrunched up with sunlight.

Taehyun’s facing him. Sunflowers under clouds, he thinks.

As it turns out, Checkpoint Two is a mere twenty feet away, and by the time they’re up there Beomgyu is skipping the distance.

He pulls Taehyun, pulls pulls him up and right into his side so Taehyun can look up and see …

_ Oh. _

It’s a quilt, laid out carefully half-under a patch of trees. It’s a little woven basket—no, two. It’s a pile of pillows, and a tied-up bundle of wildflowers, and two froggy plushies. It’s …

“It’s a picnic!” Beomgyu announces, with the kind of bravado he gets trying to stamp down nervousness. “A froggy picnic, if we’re being specific. You’re always sending frog memes instead of regular ones, and whenever we go to the aquarium you absolutely lose your shit over the little baby poisony ones, and I don’t know, I thought it would be fun, and yeah, it’s a little silly, but it’s—“

“Beomgyu,” Taehyun says, hushing Beomgyu’s rambling. “It is silly. And I love it.”

Beomgyu’s got this look on his face that Taehyun knows he won’t be able to forget. It's rare that the shyer side of Beomgyu comes out. “Really?”

“Really really.” Taehyun goes up on tiptoe, and it’s him messing with Beomgyu’s hair this time.

“Well, that is wonderful news!” Beomgyu claps his hands together, before bouncing forward. It's all Taehyun can do to follow.

Beomgyu pulls out a cushion for Taehyun to sit on, and Taehyun pulls out his gentleman joke again, but it’s not really a joke anymore. Beomgyu gives a cushion to each of the froggy plushies, and introduces them to Taehyun as Tangerine and Blueberry.

“They’re, um. They’re best friends. Like us!”

And he turns away, crouching to open one of the picnic baskets, giving Taehyun a rare moment to simply watch him, watch him take out two Keroppi plates, watch his hands as he opens up a little container of strawberries.

Beomgyu’s taken off all the tops already. Taehyun is warm again, warm again.

Taehyun steals Blueberry off their cushion and sits them in his lap, hugging them to his chest. Beomgyu’s humming the memory of  _ My My _ , and when Taehyun sings “My, my, my, my, my way,” along with him he startles.

“What, you think I don’t know it, too?” Taehyun teases.

“Yeah, I didn’t think listening to  _ Heng:garæ _ on repeat on the drive here would be quite enough,” Beomgyu says, smiling down into the picnic basket before announcing, “I brought champagne glasses because they’re better than regular glasses.”

Taehyun nods. “Very sensible of you.”

“I know.” Beomgyu brings out a jug of lemonade. Taehyun traces his finger along the swirling heart pattern of the quilt patch by his knee.

“Uh …” comes Beomgyu’s voice. “So. This.” Taehyun looks up to catch Beomgyu lifting out of the basket—

“Is that …”

Taehyun crumbles.

Beomgyu shifts, the shape of him outlined by the afternoon sun. An angel with a froggy headband halo.

“I had to ask Yeonjun to help me make it, so if it looks bad it’s his fault. Do you know how hard it is to pipe even lines? It’s so much harder than it looks on _Bake_ _Off_. My wrists ached all this morning. They still kinda do, actually. But anyway, it’s my first time, like, actually baking so that’s why it’s so—“

“Beomgyu,” Taehyun says. His voice crumbles, too. He just can’t stay whole around this boy. 

“Mm?”

“Do you remember that wedding cake we saw? In the window of that bakery down next to the bookstore?”

They talked about that cake for days. It really was so pretty, with icing cascading like dandelion seeds in the warmest yellow spring.

Beomgyu nods, eyes round. He … round.

“That doesn’t hold a candle to this.”

Beomgyu rolls his eyes. “Okay, Mr. Sarcasm. I know it’s not the most professional of cakes. But it was made with love! What happened to ‘Love is stored in the frog,’ huh?”

“I’m not joking!” Taehyun pouts, flapping his arms. “You made me a froggy cake! What can I do other than love it forever?”

“Is it really … good?” Beomgyu asks, still looking skeptical.

“Love  _ is _ stored in the frogs,” Taehyun says, and Beomgyu follows his gaze to the cake. And indeed, there are two little frogs seated upon it. They’re happy-looking things, with big blobs of frosting for eyes and u-shaped smiles. There’s a little blue pond next to them, their spindly frosting legs dangling in.

“Love is stored in … us,” Beomgyu corrects. He glances up at Taehyun, and immediately back down when he sees Taehyun’s already looking at him. “This one’s you.” He points to the smaller one. “See? I added your dimple.”

How is Taehyun supposed to articulate the way his heart is about to burst? How do you tell your bestie-slash-date that they make you feel seen and heard and loved and loved and  _ loved _ ? How do you explain to someone that their aching wrists and lotion-soft hands are exactly where you want your heart to rest?

“I can tell the other one’s you; look at him! That’s a zero-braincell frog if I’ve ever seen one.”

Beomgyu squawks indignantly, and Taehyun giggles, opening the jug of lemonade. He pours Beomgyu a glass first, and all is forgiven.

“So, I saw this thing on TikTok where instead of using a knife to cut cakes, they just take a wine glass …” Beomgyu pauses to reveal two wine glasses with a flourish, “and, like. Scoop a piece of cake. And it looked really cool! So I thought we could try it!”

He’s bouncing a little, on his cushion. His hair flops over his headband. Taehyun’s cheeks ache with fondness. Beomgyu’s hand lingers when he passes Taehyun’s glass over.

Before Taehyun can move, though, there’s a “Wait! Stay right there!” from Beomgyu, hands aflutter.

Taehyun’s heart follows suit.

“Here,” Beomgyu says, holding up what Taehyun recognizes as his instant camera. “Beautiful!” he cheers, punctuated by the click of the photo. “Oh, where did you learn to pose like that, Kang Taehyun? Your expressions are just on another level!”

“All I did was smile, you dummy,” Taehyun says, grabbing the camera.

“And it was the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen,” Beomgyu says, so, so earnestly, before crossing his eyes and making a duck face in time for Taehyun’s picture.

Taehyun watches it inch out of the printer. “You’ve clearly never seen this picture before, then.”

“Ooh, I knew it. You  _ do _ think I’m handsome.”

Taehyun’s the one offering a wink instead of an answer this time. He figures the way he holds the picture in both hands, cupping it like water, is telling enough.

Beomgyu takes pictures of the cake, then, because “according to my Taehyunnie it’s prettier than The Wedding Cake, so we very obviously can never forget it,” and most of the pictures are more of Taehyun than the cake but Taehyun doesn’t notice.

_ My Taehyunnie, my Taehyunnie, my Taehyunnie, _ his mind is singing. His fingers hum, buzzing with warmth.

Click, click, click. “I … um. Brought a lot of film,” Beomgyu admits. “I knew I’d wanna remember everything about today. So take as many as you want.”

He hands the camera back over. If Taehyun took as many as he really wanted, he’d have a stop-motion flipbook of Beomgyu’s sunflower smile.

“Even if we didn’t take any pictures,” Taehyun says, scrunching his eyes to focus the lens on Tangerine in Beomgyu’s lap. “I’d remember everything about today.”

Taehyun’s next picture is a sunflower smile, glowing rosy and bright.

The cake is lemon. The frosting is lemon, too. It tastes like love.

The picture Beomgyu takes of their toasting wine glasses filled to the brim with cake is blurry, because he took it with one hand, but it’s pretty that way.

“Me … full,” Taehyun says.

“Well said.” Beomgyu holds up his arm. “C’mere.”

And Taehyun has never been one to deny himself such a simple joy. Their knees knock together. Beomgyu is wearing frog socks.

Beomgyu’s hand comes up to the nape of Taehyun’s neck, curling his fingers into the hair there.

_ You, you, you, _ Taehyun’s mind sighs.  _ This. _

He’s so  _ warm. _

“Oh, I learned this new one last week! I was gonna come over and surprise you with it, actually. I’d show you now, but I didn’t bring—“

Taehyun cuts off when Beomgyu rummages through one of the baskets and brings out a deck of cards.

“Wow.” It comes out like a sigh. “You really know me, huh.”

“It’s my favorite thing to do.” There’s something so gentle in Beomgyu’s voice, in his eyes, in his answering smile. “Can I see the trick?”

There, with the sun at his back and two froggy plushies sitting next to them, Taehyun thinks he’d give Beomgyu anything.

So he shuffles the cards, and Beomgyu oohs and ahhs in that indulgent way of his. The crickets have started their song, a serenade to Taehyun’s heart-shaped boy.

Taehyun stands up, offering his hand for Beomgyu to do the same. He’s a bit wobbly coming up.

“My foot fell asleep,” he laments, putting his weight on Taehyun so he can kick the incriminating foot back and forth. 

He looks like an idiot. Every bit the zero-braincell frosting frog Taehyun knows him to be. Every bit the boy Taehyun loves him to be.

Taehyun screeches like a siren.

Beomgyu nearly topples over with how hard he jumps. “Kang Taehyun,” he wheezes into Taehyun’s shoulder, where he landed. “What, pray tell, the  _ fuck _ was that?”

“You said your foot fell asleep,” Taehyun replies, matter-of-fact. “I gave it a wake-up call.”

Beomgyu bends backward with how hard he laughs.

He’s still kind of laughing when they get to wherever he’s leading Taehyun, and it’s through a giggle that he announces that they’ve made their way to Checkpoint Three.

It’s … a pond.

Taehyun bounces on his toes, tugging Beomgyu’s hand. “Like the cake!”

“Yeah!” Beomgyu says, sounding for all the world like he’s never been happier.

Taehyun drops down to untie his shoes, then tug off his socks and roll his jeans up to mid-calf.

Beomgyu does the same wordlessly, and he’s barely back upright before Taehyun’s tugging him in.

It’s orange all around them, the sunset mirroring the vibrant euphoria shimmering under Taehyun’s skin.

Beomgyu kicks water at Taehyun’s knees. There’s sunset on his hair, in his smile, smeared across his cheeks, and rather than a strawberry, now, he looks like a tangerine.

A tangerine who is about to get  _ soaked _ .

It’s only thirty seconds before Beomgyu calls a truce. Taehyun’s stomach hurts from laughing, and Beomgyu falls right into his side. Right where he fits best.

They’re there, ankle deep. Taehyun thinks of them, thinks of Beomgyu and cutting off the tops of individual strawberries and giving a little frosting frog a dimple and pestering Yeonjun for help. He thinks of all this and holds Beomgyu’s waist, right where it’s soft, and sways in place.

The crickets are louder back here, and there’s the splashing of the water around their clumsy feet.

“Oh, Kang Taehyun,” Beomgyu says, slipping his arms around Taehyun’s neck. “I’m starting to think  _ you’re  _ the romantic one.” He leans forward to boop Taehyun’s nose with his own.

They’re not dancing, really. Just standing. Just breathing.

Taehyun hums. “Even more romantic than your hospital date?”

“Hm.” Beomgyu furrows his eyebrows and pouts, clearly putting a lot of intense thought into it. “Well … maybe not quite that level. But don’t feel bad, Taehyunnie! It’s hard to be that romantic; not everyone is cut out for it.”

Taehyun snorts, and he’s about to reply when there’s a splash, a scream, and a Beomgyu in Taehyun’s arms, legs around Taehyun’s waist like a koala.

“Something touched my foot,” he whimpers.

The water is less than six inches deep, and very clear. Taehyun peers through the dimming light, craning his neck the best he can while not toppling over or dropping Beomgyu.

“Oh! I see something moving!”

“Noo, I don’t wanna die  _ now _ ,” Beomgyu smushes his cheek into Taehyun’s neck. “Me and Taehyunnie haven’t even finished our first date, why does fate have to come for me  _ now _ ? Why couldn’t it be  _ Thursday _ ?”

“Hey, hey,” Taehyun says, patting Beomgyu’s back. “I think it was a frog.”

Beomgyu peeks out, hesitant. “It was?”

There’s a faint  _ ribbit _ from the water below them, as if answering Beomgyu, and when he meets Taehyun’s eyes they laugh together. Taehyun sloshes his way to the edge of the pond and carefully deposits Beomgyu on the dry ground.

“My hero,” he swoons.

Taehyun puts his hands under Beomgyu’s chin, tilting up his face so Taehyun can press a little kiss to the crown of his head, right next to his headband.

Before Taehyun can see Beomgyu’s reaction—and, more importantly, before Beomgyu can see  _ Taehyun’s _ reaction—Taehyun turns back to face the water and leans down to stick his hands in.

Four minutes, several clicks of the camera, and a near-death experience later, Taehyun straightens up, cupping a small frog in his palms.

“Look, look, look!”

Beomgyu clicks the camera one more time, then pulls his pant legs back up to step over to Taehyun, leaning his head in to see.

“Oh, oh, are you gonna give them a name?” he asks. His voice is too loud for how close they are, but it’s familiar like that.

“Hm … what do you think?” Taehyun slowly brings his hands up, till the frog is almost at eye level.

Beomgyu sticks out a finger to give them a little head pat. “I’m getting … Lettuce vibes.”

“Lettuce.”

“Yeah.” Beomgyu looks up, a silly smile curling the corners of his mouth. “Because green.” He lifts his camera up and turns it around, lowering his head so they can all fit into the shot.

Click. “Well, how could I argue with that?” Taehyun sighs, as exaggerated as he can make it. “Lettuce it is.”

Beomgyu nudges Taehyun in the stomach. “I believe this makes us parents, Kang Taehyun.”

“So … my debut in the field of naming children is  _ Lettuce _ .”

“Hey, Rapunzel’s parents were  _ literal _ royalty and they did the same—“

Beomgyu flinches instead of finishing his sentence, and Taehyun watches as Lettuce darts away into the now-dark water after using his hand as a launch pad.

“Well,” Beomgyu says. “It was nice while it lasted.”

Taehyun looks up, up and around at the hovering trees and the blanketed grass and the brilliant sunset, flickered out to embers. Up at Beomgyu, ears sticking out in front of his headband and eyes shining like the rippling pond. He’s not orange anymore, but there’s a glow there that was never from the sky at all.

“Yeah,” he murmurs. Beomgyu’s not talking about the date, but … “it was.”

It’s quiet for a second. Well … just between them. The crickets sing on. The breeze does, too. There’s a splash of water that might be Lettuce.

“Well, who’s to say it’s over?” Beomgyu takes Taehyun’s hand and swings it in the half-foot of space between them. “We still have to pack up the entire picnic and carry it back down the hill. No date is complete without a little workout.”

Taehyun snorts. “Of course! I should have known it wasn’t over; you haven’t even kissed me yet.”

The words don’t register, not really, not until Beomgyu lifts his gaze from their intertwined hands, climbing Taehyun’s flushing face till they’re standing there. Just looking at each other.

“You … want me to kiss you?” Beomgyu asks, and he’s not even trying to hide the way he’s all lit up. Like he can’t quite believe it. The sunset pauses in fading, just for a second, just to brush past him one last time.

“Yeah,” Taehyun says. Is he lit up, too? He feels alight.

“Okay.”

Taehyun grins. It’s like he’s blindfolded again. “Just ‘okay’?”

“Here—“ Beomgyu huffs. “Let me, just—“

There was never much distance between them in the first place, but Beomgyu steps closer.

Taehyun hears the crickets, the breeze, the water slosh up his exposed ankles. He’s standing in a froggy-cake pond and all at once, everything in the world exists.

Beomgyu steps closer and there it is again. His hand, his burning touch. He holds Taehyun’s face like Taehyun held Lettuce. His thumb pokes into Taehyun's cheek. His smile rounds out his cheeks. Taehyun has never known how to want before him.

Love is stored in the tangerine, Taehyun thinks, as Beomgyu darts forward and presses a little kiss on the tip of Taehyun's nose, and Taehyun barely blinks, barely takes in the smile crinkling up Beomgyu's face before another little kiss lands on his mouth.

It’s only a second later when Beomgyu pulls back, maybe even less.

(Or maybe more. Taehyun’s world tilts toward Beomgyu; who’s to say time doesn’t do the same?)

They look up at the same time, and giggle at the same time. Taehyun is bubbling over. The sky could fall and he’d be okay. Beomgyu leans back in and his nose brushes Taehyun’s cheek and it’s all so …

_ Good _ , his mind breathes. Beomgyu is so  _ good _ .

Beomgyu kisses him, and he kisses Beomgyu, their feet planted in this starlit pond like it’s been waiting for them. On Taehyun's jaw rests Beomgyu's hand, and on Beomgyu's hand rests Taehyun's hand, keeping Beomgyu right in place as he gives his sweet smile to Taehyun, again and again and again. It tastes like lemon frosting. It feels like warmth.

Taehyun goes up on tiptoe. Beomgyu holds him, close and safe.

Under the dying sun, there’s them: two little frosting frogs, side by side.

They let their feet dry off before packing up. There’s one more strawberry left in the container; Taehyun tosses it up into the air and cheers when Beomgyu catches it in his open mouth.

The darkened sky and the softened hills are the only witnesses to their continued patchy duet of  _ My My _ . Taehyun’s carrying both picnic baskets on one arm so he can hold Beomgyu’s hand.

When Beomgyu digs the car keys out of his pocket, Taehyun leans in to kiss his cheek.

“Let me.” He takes them before Beomgyu can say no.

“Hey,” Beomgyu whines. It’s the moon shining on him now; there’s a glow of pink about him. He is incandescent. “You can’t just get your way by giving me kisses.”

Taehyun tucks Beomgyu’s chin down so he can kiss Beomgyu’s forehead.

“Okay,” Beomgyu mumbles. It’s his ears glowing pink, this time. “Maybe you can.”

Taehyun’s opening up the sunroof when Beomgyu snaps his fingers. “Don’t let me forget to give you the rest of the cake.”

“I thought you might wanna take it home. Share it with Yeonjun.”

“Well, by that logic, you could share it with Hueningkai and Soobin. And since that’s more people, it makes sense for you to take it.”

“But I don’t wanna eat it with anyone else.”

Beomgyu looks up at that, finger paused from where it was scrolling through his Spotify playlists. “Oh, Kang Taehyun, that was so romantic. My heart is fluttering!”

Taehyun snorts.

“Well,” Beomgyu continues. “I guess we’re at a stalemate. I want you to take it, but you only want to eat it with me.” He places a hand on his chest like he's accepting an award. “Your favorite Beomgyu. I knew you were falling for my charms.” He seems to have made a decision on the music; some LANY song Taehyun can't quite remember the name of.

'Why don’t we just, like. Eat it here?" Taehyun says, rolling his eyes. "I mean, you packed more forks, right? What’s stopping us from just finishing it now?”

“Oh my God,” Beomgyu whispers. “Taehyunnie, can I kiss you?”

The moon falls through the open sunroof, finding Beomgyu, outlining the round eyes of his froggy headband like it was meant to be there.

It might as well have been, Taehyun thinks, dazed. If he were moonlight, he surely would like to rest on Beomgyu.

"Yes," Taehyun says. If it's Beomgyu asking, all he can do is give.

Plus … he wants a kiss.

And a kiss he receives, once Beomgyu lifts himself up over the center console and places a warm hand on the nape of Taehyun's neck to pull him in.

“You’re so …" Beomgyu mumbles into Taehyun's mouth. "Absolute fucking genius."

Beomgyu makes a little 'mwah' sound as he presses forward one more time before diving into the backseat to get the cake.

So they sit there, not bothering with the wine glasses and just eating it off the plate with the little wooden forks Beomgyu brought. That one piano piece on the album sifts through the speakers. The air's colder, now, tumbling down through the open sunroof. Taehyun shivers, and barely has time to blink before there's a mound of fabric obstructing his vision.

"Now  _ this _ is peak romance," Taehyun says, peeling the mound of fabric off his face. It's Beomgyu's tangerine hoodie.

Beomgyu snorts, half-muffled through his mouthful of cake. "Only the best for my Taehyunnie."

Taehyun busies himself with stuffing himself into the hoodie; it's a better alternative than staring at, like, the gear shift and trying not to burst into flames.

There is, of course, the dilemma of Beomgyu's hoodie also being a cause for bursting into flames. But Taehyun keeps the hood up as he adjusts himself back into a comfortable position and pulls the sleeves over his hands, and that's enough to let him take the hood off and face Beomgyu again.

His mind is a loop of  _ My Taehyunnie! My Taehyunnie! My- _

"Here," Beomgyu says. Taehyun watches, half horrified and half impressed, as he scoops the entirety of Frog-Beomgyu up onto his fork and holds it out, hand underneath in case Frog-Beomgyu takes a spill. "C'mon," he whines, when all Taehyun does is blink at him.

"You want me to put that entire thing in my mouth."

"No, silly." Beomgyu rolls his eyes. He's still smiling, though, so it doesn't really have the intended effect. "I want  _ me _ to put this entire thing in your mouth. C'mon, Taehyunnie, open up. Aaa," he says, like Taehyun is a toddler who needs his food airplaned into his waiting mouth.

Well … the fact that it gets Taehyun to open his mouth … probably doesn't help. But Beomgyu's lemon-juice grin comes back, and he claps his hands like a little seal, and, yeah, that's worth it.

It's even worth the frosting smeared all over Taehyun's mouth, because Taehyun stabs his frosting froggy self and feeds it to Beomgyu, whose cheeks fill up and eyes go wide.

_ Baby bear _ , Taehyun's mind supplies, ever helpful.

The music is slow. Pretty. Taehyun pulls down the rearview mirror to wipe off the frosting on his mouth.

“Hey,” Beomgyu whines. Taehyun looks up at him. “I was gonna do that.”

“Hm?”

“ _ I _ was gonna clean the frosting off your face.” He’s pouting, now. "It was gonna be so romantic!"

“Aw,” Taehyun coos, doing his best I-am-talking-to-a-toddler voice. “My sweet Beomie. Do you wanna put more frosting on my face so you can clean it off?”

"Yes." Beomgyu doesn't miss a beat in lighting up.

So Taehyun frames his face like a little flower, and Beomgyu pokes a finger into the cake before poking Taehyun’s nose.

It feels light, almost like it’s not there at all, but Taehyun doesn’t have time to ponder that because Beomgyu’s leaning in to kiss his nose. All Taehyun’s thoughts instantly fly out of his head. He looks at Beomgyu. Just looks at him.

"Hah," Beomgyu says, weakly. His ears are flaming pink. "You're, like. So red right now.”

“I thought you’d use a napkin, honestly.”

“Don’t tell me … you really didn’t see that coming?”

“Is it so unrealistic to think someone would use a napkin?”

“Is it so unrealistic to think I’d take any opportunity to kiss you?”

If Taehyun wants to function, he’s going to have to ignore that. “Did you even put frosting on there?” he huffs.

“No,” Beomgyu says, like it’s obvious. “You hate food on your face? It messes with your skin.”

“Are …” Taehyun trails off. Beomgyu with his sweater vest and his strawberry cheeks and his hands full of stars. Taehyun sees him. His boy full of stars. “Are you still taking any opportunity to kiss me?”

Beomgyu blinks.

Taehyun makes a kissy face at him.

“Yeah,” Beomgyu giggles. The passenger seat creaks. There’s the press of his mouth, warm and sweet and good. “I am.”

Taehyun’s eyes flutter open. Like his heart’s fairy wings: flying right to Beomgyu, again and again and again.

They finally start on their way home. Taehyun’s switched the music.  _ Cherry _ fades out into the back road white noise.

“Hey,” Taehyun says to a sleepy-looking Beomgyu. “What time did you wake up?”

“Mmm,” Beomgyu hums. The beginning of  _ Fine Line _ is swallowed by his voice. “Like … six.”

“Six? That’s so early; you must be tired.”

“Well, I wanted everything to be perfect. Do you know how much time it takes to behead strawberries, Kang Taehyun?”

“Thank you for your service.”

There's a pause. Beomgyu yawns again, big and round.

“You can sleep,” Taehyun says quietly.

Beomgyu wiggles in his seat. “No! I wanna be here.”

Taehyun laughs. “Okay. But it’s also okay if you change your mind. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m not falling asleep!”

When Taehyun glances to the passenger side two minutes later, Beomgyu is asleep.

Taehyun smiles to himself before pulling over. He turns the music down a bit, and reaches into the backseat for the quilt Beomgyu brought. He folds it so the parts that were on the ground aren’t on the outside and slowly lifts Beomgyu’s froggy headband head to tuck it underneath.

He opens up Spotify, shuffles one of Beomgyu’s lofi playlists he plays when he can’t sleep, then starts off again. Slower, this time. Dodging potholes is a tricky art.

“Beomgyu,” Taehyun whispers. He’s pulled up to the front of his building—impressively close to the curb, if you ask him. “We're here.”

“Mmbnmbn.”

“I agree, but you have to get up now.”

“M’up,” Beomgyu hums, coherently. He is not up.

“C’mon, baby,” Taehyun says, and that does the trick. He gets to watch as the pet name registers in Beomgyu’s sleepy little head, then as he screws his eyes shut and smacks his hands over his face.

“If anything, you’re the baby,” he grumbles. Even when he’s so flustered he can’t look Taehyun in the eye, Beomgyu’s going to argue with him. It’s very impressive.

“Whatever you say, baby,” Taehyun singsongs.

Beomgyu turns around, fiddling with the quilt-pillow where Taehyun can’t see his face.

“Are you good to drive back home? You can spend the night. Or I can take you there and walk back; it’s really not that far.”

“No,” Beomgyu mumbles. “I’m good.” He proves his point with a yawn.

Taehyun giggles. “If you say so.” And he stays there, taking no steps to get out of the car. He can’t think of anything he wants to do less.

Beomgyu seems to realize, too, and he rubs his eyes before looking up at Taehyun.

If time could stand still, they’d discover it here. In Beomgyu’s car. On Beomgyu’s starlight-lit cheeks.

“Oh!” Beomgyu’s voice is soft, still muddled, like he’s still half asleep. “Here.”

And he twists himself into the back, coming back up with one of the frog plushies cradled in his arms. Blueberry. He holds them out for Taehyun to take. Which he does, resting his chin on their fluffy head.

“Tangerine’s coming with me,” Beomgyu says, tentatively. As if it’s not the sweetest gesture he could have made.

If Taehyun keeps smiling like this, his cheeks are going to fall off. “You better bring them over next time you drop by.”

And just like that, any doubt in Beomgyu’s face washes away. “Bold of you to assume that wasn’t my plan already.”

Taehyun shuts his eyes. Lets himself breathe in one last time. It’s late, and Beomgyu needs to get home. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

Beomgyu’s hand is warm on top of Taehyun’s. “Not if I talk to you first.”

“Text me when you’re home, okay?” 

Beomgyu nods.

Taehyun opens the door. Sticks one leg out. Turns around, and gives Beomgyu a kiss on the cheek, then whips back around.

He walks up on the sidewalk, footsteps playing in his mind like echoes of a distant dream, and then Beomgyu’s in front of him.

“I almost forgot!” He’s bouncing a little where he stands. “To ask you. Um.” He pauses when Taehyun takes his hand, rubbing his thumb along Beomgyu’s knuckles. “Can. Can I be your boyfriend, Taehyunnie?”

If Taehyun’s cheeks fall off … it will have been worth it for the way Beomgyu’s Milky Way eyes crinkle up. He’s glowing under the indigo blanket sky. “Yes,” Taehyun breathes. “Can I be yours?”

“Yeah,” Beomgyu says, stilling like he hadn’t expected it. “Yeah, yes, yes.” It’s him up on his tiptoes this time, cupping Taehyun’s face to kiss his forehead once, then twice. “Yay,” he cheers softly, skipping over to the driver’s side door after kissing Taehyun’s forehead once more.

Third time’s a charm, Taehyun thinks, gathering his glowing heart and climbing the stairs.

He looks back before entering the building, and Beomgyu looks up before starting the car.

He sticks his tongue out. So does Taehyun. And then he’s off, and so is Taehyun.

Taehyun buries his face in Blueberry’s plush stomach, kicking his legs up from where he’s sprawled out on his bed.

His conversation with Beomgyu is still up on his phone, Beomgyu’s  _ home 😸 !! _ responded to with a  _ 🧡🧡🧡 _ . There’s sunlight flooding his chest, filling up and spilling over, over and over again.

Taehyun tries to close his eyes, to calm down and fall asleep, but just like every other time, the smile comes back in full force. He’s just so … happy.

He hugs Blueberry to his chest, holds them tight, curls around them. 

Outside his window, the stars fall into place. A puzzle piece slides home. Is Beomgyu lying awake, too?

(He eventually does fall asleep, and wakes up to a sticky note on his forehead, reading  _ YOU BETTER TELL US EVERYTHING !!! WE R OUT GETTING SNACKIES RN FOR YOUR STORYTIME  _ in Hueningkai’s minuscule handwriting, with a deformed little cat drawing taking up the other two thirds of the space.)

Bonus:

Beomgyu tries his best to shut the door quietly behind him. He toes off his shoes, and sets the baskets down on the doormat.

"Beomgyu! Beomgyu!"

Ah, he should have known Yeonjun wouldn't fall asleep. It's hardly late for Yeonjun's … noteworthy … sleep schedule. Plus, he was almost as excited as Beomgyu about the date. Yeonjun crashes into the living room, nearly meeting his end right then and there. Death by fuzzy sock sliding. "Beombeombeom!” he cheers. “How was it!"

Beomgyu takes one step forward, two, three, and Yeonjun reads his mind. He throws his arms open and into them Beomgyu melts.

And sighs. “He …” 

“Oh,” Yeonjun clucks his tongue. They are sitting on the couch. When did that happen? “Bad case of the lovebug, huh?”

Beomgyu puts the back of his hand to his forehead and swoons, definitely  _ not _ almost falling off the couch. “Fatal.”

Yeonjun grabs both Beomgyu's hands. “Did he like the cake?”

Beomgyu faces him head on. "He  _ loved  _ it. God … his smile! And he kept taking pictures, too! And he did a little magic trick he said he wanted to show me! And he was so excited and smiley and aaaaa."

"Aaaaa," Yeonjun parrots, nodding solemnly.

"And the headband was so cute, and he was all happy about going matchies, and he found a  _ frog _ , wait, let me show you—"

Beomgyu stumbles up and over to the picnic baskets, returning with an armful of instant pictures.

He goes through them, shoving some under Yeonjun's nose because look, isn't he the sweetest? And his  _ magic _ , look, look, he's just so …

Some he keeps just for himself; he doesn't explain it, and Yeonjun doesn't question it. Taehyun's bright cheeks and sparkling eyes after they kissed. His waterlogged laugh. His little pout in the passenger seat, all those hours ago when Beomgyu first slipped the headband over his eyes.

"Oh, Beom," Yeonjun sighs, cradling Beomgyu's head to his chest like Beomgyu is a baby.

Beomgyu curls into him, hiding the big dumb idiot smile taking over. “He makes me so stupid happy.”

“I know.” Yeonjun holds up the picture of Taehyun holding Lettuce. It’s blurry, and Taehyun’s off-center, and it might be Beomgyu’s favorite. “Love is stored in the frog, right?”

**Author's Note:**

> [baby playlist !!](https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2EJG-r4L00I5GnM2fV9zWN6qDw2Y6sUa)  
> two honey pies — juno roome  
> Chasing Cars — Snow Patrol  
> the lakes — Taylor Swift  
> My My — SEVENTEEN  
> Strawberry Blond — Mitski  
> ILYSB — LANY  
> Last First Kiss — One Direction  
> You Better Know — Red Velvet  
> Favorite Record — Fall Out Boy  
> Stay — TAEYEON  
> Strawberry Avalanche — Owl City
> 
> thank u for stopping by my dears <3 leave kudos n comments if youd like to validate ur local froggy fool !!
> 
> for reference: the froggy cake is like one of [these](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/6d/c0/57/6dc05767c80c1dc160fc370e27322cce.jpg) bad boys and the headband is [this](https://d1flfk77wl2xk4.cloudfront.net/Assets/74/075/L_p0111907574.jpg) bad boy
> 
> if u need someone to cry abt froggy taehyun with .. u can find me on [tumblr](https://taeyeonsb.tumblr.com/) <3
> 
> love u love u love u !!!!!!!!! mwah >3<


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